Afghan Warrior

2006-07-22

Occupation of Two Districts by Taliban

According to recent reports, two districts of the southern Helmand province were captured by the Taliban with the interference of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e- Tayeba. And after they captured these two districts they burnt the Afghan national flag and the flag of Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e- Tayeba was hoisted in the districts. These acts of enemies sparked the anger of many patriotic Afghans. The enemies are always crossing the borders with the help of foreign rebels and they escape after their guerilla operations. The insurgents have captured some small villages before but it was the first time that the national flag of Afghanistan was burnt by the enemies and it was a big insult to our national interest and dignity.

Although nearly thirty thousand international troops have been deployed in Afghanistan, the recent attacks of enemies creates a question for many Afghans that despite the presence of Afghan national army and police and foreign troops, how come the enemies easily occupy districts without facing enough resistance? Why despite the international commitment, the security situation is not getting better? In my opinion the main reason for these attacks and capturing are the small presence of the Afghan national army in the troubled areas along the border. There is not a large number of the Afghan army to fight the insurgents and our Ministry of Defence can not deploy more Afghan soldiers to these areas because thousands of the government soldiers have been already deployed to missions and are fighting the enemies in different areas and the remaining number of these soldiers are inside the big cities' army bases and garrisons. If our government were able to deploy more soldiers to the areas along the border it would be very difficult for the enemies to carry out their attacks. We hope NATO deploys more troops in those areas where the enemies have their influence, particulary in the southern provinces.

There are hundreds of international peacekeeping forces in the big cities but we need their presence more in the troubled areas to ensure security for the Afghans. The more presence of NATO forces in the border areas will restore the situation and it will curb the terrorist activites and the enemy resistance will be broken. So NATO should continue its commitment and deploy more troops to Afghanistan. The enemy should know that their guerilla attacks will not succeed and our country Afghanistan will successfuly continue its way to progress, stability and democracy. The recent visits of American foreign and defence ministers to Afghanistan proved that the United States of America will continue its commitment, long standing strategic partnership and will not abandon Afghanistan. Many Afghans view this as a good sign and hope that America continues its support until Afghanistan will be strong enough to stand on its own two feet.